Long-haul high rate quantum key distribution

ABSTRACT

Multiple bit values can be encoded on a single photon in a quantum key distribution (QKD) system using a plurality of sidebands of an optical carrier frequency. Computational and conjugate bases can be defined, and photons decoded based on a selected state from either basis. If n sidebands are available, as many as log 2  n bits can be encoded on a single photon. Errors in detected bit values due to selection of an incorrect basis state or other errors can be at least partially corrected by bit distillation to identity bit strings for which a transmitter and a receiver record the same values, without insecure transmission of these values.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.61/847,002, filed on Jul. 16, 2013, which is incorporated herein byreference.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF GOVERNMENT SUPPORT

This invention was made with government support under Contract No.DE-AC52-06NA25396 awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy. Thegovernment has certain rights in the invention.

FIELD

The disclosure pertains to quantum cryptography.

BACKGROUND

Increasing the secret bit rate of a Quantum Key Distribution (QKD)system based on Bennett and Brassard's 1984 protocol (BB84) bydialing-up the clock rate of existing QKD approaches using atwo-dimensional Hilbert space spanned by photon polarization (1 bit perphoton (“bpp”)) is difficult because of restrictions imposed by detectortiming jitter and deadtime. Higher secure rates could be achieved usingother photon degrees of freedom, and transmitting multiple bits perphoton. Higher-order alphabet quantum coding must be robust todecoherence from atmospheric turbulence and atmospheric or fiber-opticdispersion. Unfortunately, conventional higher order alphabet basedapproaches are unsuitable for practical applications.

Several photon degrees of freedom have been used in higher-orderalphabet quantum communications across atmospheric paths. Spatial,temporal, and photon optical angular momentum (OAM) modes can provide alarge number of Hilbert space dimensions but none of these approachesprovides secure, robust systems that actually produce secret keys atrates that can approach 1 Gbs. Existing modulation methods for OAM modesuse mechanical or liquid crystal devices that remain far from the GHzclock rates that are necessary to achieve the 1 Gbps goal. Such statesare not robust to weak turbulence and require full adaptive optics forthe limited weak turbulence periods when such communications arepossible. This method of encoding is also not amenable to transmissionthrough standard single-mode fiber.

Time-bin encoding of quantum information in a higher-order alphabetwould be robust under atmospheric transmission, but the necessaryserialization of quantum information over multiple time bins limits thesecure rate. For example, if a 1000 state time bin alphabet wererequired and detector jitter was 20 ps, each individual pulse would needto be 20 ns apart, limiting overall transmission rate to 50 MHz. Thisreduced transmission rate negates the advantages of the high-orderalphabet.

Entangled photon QKD is limited by the speed and performance of thesource of entangled photons. It is also frequently suggested that thenon-locality of quantum physics provides a higher level of securityassurance than prepare and measure schemes. However, this assertionhinges critically on the “fair sampling” assumption, which cannot beassumed to hold in the adversarial cryptographic setting. Thisassumption can be exploited to produce a completely insecure system, inspite of non-locality.

Continuous variable (CV) QKD is another approach that may be effectiveover atmospheric paths. However, the security analyses of theseapproaches have yet to reach the high assurances levels andsophisticated protocol techniques (decoy state and finite statistics)already developed and demonstrated for single-photon QKD.

Quantum noise encryption using the Y00 or alpha-eta protocol has somequantum optical similarities with CV QKD. This technique has beendemonstrated at rates approaching 1 Gbps over hundreds of kilometers ofoptical fiber, and recently over an airplane to ground optical path.Nevertheless, this approach remains highly controversial. First, thetransmitter and receiver require a shared long-term secret key: securedistribution of this key is not addressed. In contrast, QKD onlyrequires a short, one-time short-term secret key for authentication ofthe first session. Once QKD commences, it is of no consequence if thisinitial key becomes compromised owing to the forward security of QKD.Second, this long-term secret key is used as the seed of a deterministicrandom number generator (DRNG) whose output feeds the Y00 encryptor. Ithas been shown that Y00 is therefore no more secure than the underlyingDRNG, i.e., Y00 has algorithmic, not quantum physical security, at best.Third, Y00 quantum state outputs reveal information about the secretkey, which is something that no encryptor should do: Y00 is less securethan an encryptor using the DRNGs directly as stream ciphers. Thus, theY00 approach lacks strong security assurances.

SUMMARY

Methods of quantum key distribution comprise encoding at least one keybit as at least one sideband frequency modulated onto an opticalcarrier, and transmitting the modulated optical carrier. In someexamples, multiple bit values are encoded on the optical carrier basedon a plurality of sideband frequencies. In further examples, key bitsare modulated based on a computational basis and a conjugate basis,wherein the computational basis corresponds to a plurality of carrierfrequency sidebands and the conjugate basis is based on a superpositionof carrier frequency sidebands of the computational basis. In someembodiments, an integer number of bits log₂ n is encoded based on nsideband frequencies. In representative examples, the optical carrier isa single mode, continuous wave laser beam or a mode-locked laser beam.In further embodiments, the optical carrier is modulated so that themodulation corresponds to at most one photon at a carrier frequency. Infurther examples, a basis state is selected and the modulated opticalcarrier is processed based on the selected basis state, and a value of areceived bit is assigned based on the processing. In some examples, abasis state is selected and the modulated optical carrier is processedbased on the selected basis state, and a plurality of received bitvalues is assigned based on the processing.

Apparatus comprise an optical source configured to produce an opticalcarrier beam and an optical modulator situated to receive the opticalcarrier beam and encode at least one key bit on the optical carrier beambased on at least one frequency sideband. In some examples, the opticalmodulator is configured to encode the at least one bit based on a set ofcomputational states and a set of conjugate states, wherein thecomputational states correspond to frequency sidebands and the conjugatestates are associated with combinations of the computational states. Inother examples, the optical modulator is configured to modulate based ona conjugate state by inverting a phase of a sideband modulation. In someembodiments, the optical carrier beam is a CW laser beam or amode-locked laser beam. A beam monitor is configured to determine that atotal encoding modulation corresponds at most to a selected number ofphotons, wherein the selected number of photons is 1, 2, 5, 10, or 20.Typically a small number of photons (for example, 1 photon) is used. Instill other examples, the modulated optical beam is demodulated based ona selected computational state or conjugate state.

In additional embodiments, a processor is configured to identify atleast some incorrectly detected bits by receiving an XOR of transmittedbit strings with a bit string based on a random number, and computing anXOR of the received XORs with a detected bit string. In typicalexamples, communications for the identification are conducted using aconventional communication channel. In particular examples, theprocessor is configured to transmit an indication of accepted bitstrings based on the computed XORs.

Methods comprise establishing values for a plurality of detected bitscorresponding to transmitted bit values, wherein the detected bit valuesare established based on a quantum communication and a selected basisstate from a plurality of basis states for the quantum communication.Bit strings based on processing transmitted bit values with bit stringsbased on a random number are received, wherein the received bit stringsare communicated in a non-quantum communication channel. Accepted bitstrings are identified by processing the received bit strings withcorresponding bit strings based on the values of the detected bits. Insome examples, the received bit strings correspond to XORs of thetransmitted bit strings with a bit string defined by a random number. Instill other examples, the received bit strings are processed by XORingthe received bit string and a corresponding detected bit string.

-   -   According to some examples, communication systems comprise a        soliton source that produces an optical soliton and a modulator        that modulates the optical soliton bases on at least one quantum        key bit so as to produce a soliton sideband. The modulated        soliton is coupled to an optical transmission medium having a        dispersion selected so that the soliton and the soliton sideband        co-propagate over in the transmission medium over a distance of        at least 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 120,        150, or 200 km. In some examples, the transmission medium        includes at least a first optical fiber and a second optical        fiber, wherein the first optical fiber and the second optical        fiber have dispersions that are opposite in sign. In some        embodiments, the second fiber is a dispersion compensating fiber        or a dispersion shifted fiber. In other alternatives, lengths of        the first fiber and the second fiber are selected to compensate        dispersion between the soliton and the soliton sideband. In        typical examples, the dispersion of the second fiber is between        about −49 and −30 ps/nm/km and a receiver is coupled so as to        receive the modulated sideband from the optical transmission        media.    -   Methods comprise modulating a soliton based on at least one        quantum key bit so as to encode the quantum key bit on a soliton        sideband. The modulated sideband is transmitted so that the        soliton sideband and the soliton co-propagate in a transmission        medium. In one example, the transmission medium comprises a        first optical fiber and a second optical fiber, wherein the        first and second optical fibers have different dispersions and        first and second fiber lengths and dispersions are selected so        that the soliton and the soliton sideband co-propagate between a        transmitter and a receiver.

The foregoing and other objects, features, and advantages of theinvention will become more apparent from the following detaileddescription, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a transmitter/receiver system configured for quantumkey distribution (QKD) based on sidebands modulated onto an opticalcarrier.

FIG. 2A illustrates modulation of one of many sidebands for QKDcorresponding to transmission of a computation state.

FIG. 2B illustrates a receiver side modulation applied to acomputational state shown in FIG. 2A.

FIG. 2C illustrates modulation side bands for QKD corresponding totransmission of a conjugate state in which a phase of one sideband isinverted.

FIG. 2D illustrates a receiver side modulation applied to detect theconjugate state shown in FIG. 2C.

FIG. 3A is a block diagram of a transmitter for QKD based on modulationof mode locked laser beam.

FIG. 3B is a block diagram of a receiver configured to communicate witha transmitter such as shown in FIG. 3A.

FIG. 4A illustrates a selection of carrier frequencies available in amode locked laser beam.

FIG. 4B illustrates modulation of a selected carrier frequency of FIG.4A corresponding to a computational state.

FIG. 4C illustrates a conjugate state associated with computationalstates such as the computational state shown in FIG. 4B.

FIG. 4D illustrates a receiver side modulation applied to detect theconjugate state shown in FIG. 4C.

FIG. 5 illustrates bit distillation.

FIG. 6 illustrates bit distillation for selected representative bitvalues.

FIG. 7 illustrates a representative key exchange system using multi-bitencoding and bit distillation.

FIGS. 8A-8C illustrate phase modulation of a propagating soliton.Frequency-space representations are shown as insets. FIG. 8B illustratesa representative modulation, and FIGS. 8A, 8C depict an unmodulated andmodulated soliton, respectively.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As used in this application and in the claims, the singular forms “a,”“an,” and “the” include the plural forms unless the context clearlydictates otherwise. Additionally, the term “includes” means “comprises.”Further, the term “coupled” does not exclude the presence ofintermediate elements between the coupled items.

The systems, apparatus, and methods described herein should not beconstrued as limiting in any way. Instead, the present disclosure isdirected toward all novel and non-obvious features and aspects of thevarious disclosed embodiments, alone and in various combinations andsub-combinations with one another. The disclosed systems, methods, andapparatus are not limited to any specific aspect or feature orcombinations thereof, nor do the disclosed systems, methods, andapparatus require that any one or more specific advantages be present orproblems be solved. Any theories of operation are to facilitateexplanation, but the disclosed systems, methods, and apparatus are notlimited to such theories of operation.

Although the operations of some of the disclosed methods are describedin a particular, sequential order for convenient presentation, it shouldbe understood that this manner of description encompasses rearrangement,unless a particular ordering is required by specific language set forthbelow. For example, operations described sequentially may in some casesbe rearranged or performed concurrently. Moreover, for the sake ofsimplicity, the attached figures may not show the various ways in whichthe disclosed systems, methods, and apparatus can be used in conjunctionwith other systems, methods, and apparatus. Additionally, thedescription sometimes uses terms like “produce” and “provide” todescribe the disclosed methods. These terms are high-level abstractionsof the actual operations that are performed. The actual operations thatcorrespond to these terms will vary depending on the particularimplementation and are readily discernible by one of ordinary skill inthe art.

In some examples, values, procedures, or apparatus' are referred to as“lowest”, “best”, “minimum,” or the like. It will be appreciated thatsuch descriptions are intended to indicate that a selection among manyused functional alternatives can be made, and such selections need notbe better, smaller, or otherwise preferable to other selections.

Disclosed herein are QKD systems that can provide high bit rate quantumcommunications, and can produce quantum key bits at rates ≥1 Gbs. Highclock rates for each photon transmission (such as 10 MHz) and anextended Hilbert space, or number of degrees of freedom, are used indata encoding so that symbols from larger alphabets are received,providing multiple secret bits per photon.

Disclosed herein are systems and methods that combine amulti-dimensional Hilbert space with a high transmission rate and highefficiency read-out via imaging single photon detectors or an array ofsingle photon detectors. The encoding methods can use very large symbolalphabets only limited by dispersion in the transmission medium. Becausethe system could have thousands of states available to send and receive,many bits of secure data can be sent on a single photon. This enablesproduction of secret key bits at high rates. For example,present-generation single-photon detector timing jitter limits clockrates to 1-10 GHz for a secure system, so with typical secure linkefficiencies of 10⁻³-10⁻² secure symbols per photon, a Gbps secure rategoal necessitates transmitting symbols from a higher-order alphabetrepresenting multiple random bits per clock cycle. A quantum informationencoding of 10 bpp, at a secure rate of 1 Gbps would be feasible at a 10GHz clock rate and a link efficiency of 10⁻² secure symbols per photon.

A QKD protocol has several steps involving both one-way quantum andbi-directional, conventional communications, as well as computationalsteps. The transmitter (Alice) and receiver (Bob) share a short, secretinitial authentication key. First, Alice and Bob prepare and measure asequence of photonic quantum states. “Decoy states” such as previouslyimplemented in the BB84 protocol can be used. These decoy statesincorporate finite statistics effects, requiring preparation of photonstates with different average photon numbers. Next, through conventionalcommunications, Alice and Bob down-select to signals with compatiblepreparations/measurements, forming “sifted” keys, which would beperfectly correlated in an ideal system. Alice and Bob perform errorcorrection to reconcile their sifted keys. They also compare the averagephoton number of states Alice sent with those received by Bob anddetermine the percentage of the sifted key that was produced from singlephotons. From the error and single photon rates they establish an upperbound on the partial information that an eavesdropper (Eve) might haveobtained, which determines how much privacy amplification (PA) they mustapply to their reconciled key to produce a shorter, secure key. Thepublic communications are authenticated to protect againstman-in-the-middle attacks. All of these steps are essential for Aliceand Bob to produce secure keys with QKD, but the following descriptionpertains to the first step, the quantum communication of single photonsfrom Alice to Bob. The other steps will proceed as described aboveexcept where noted below.

Quantum communications systems can be based on multiple states that areused to produce quantum keys. For example, a 3-state system can be baseda first state, labeled |1>, a second state labeled |2>, and a thirdstate that is a superposition of the first and second states, such as(|1>+|2>)/2^(1/2). More generally, a theoretically unlimited set ofstates |1>, |2>, |3>, . . . , |n> is available. This set of statesprovides a first basis (referred as a computational basis) used to sendquantum states for quantum key generation. A second, conjugate basis, isformed using superpositions of these states such as(e^(if1)|1>+e^(if2)|2>+e^(if3)|3>+ . . . +e^(if4)|n>)*n^(−1/2), whereinfi represents phase terms that are independently selectable for eachstate. Computational and conjugate bases can be interchanged, ifdesired. Coherent frequency encoding/decoding of multiple bits ofquantum information per photon (as used herein, frequency-coded QKD orFC-QKD) in multiple radio-frequency (RF) sidebands can be used. Thesesidebands can be added to a single carrier or used with multiple opticalcarriers. In either case, these sidebands provide a multi-dimensionalHilbert space spanning many optical frequencies. The transmitter (Alice)in this FC-QKD system uses a CW laser that emits an optical beam havinga spectral width that is typically a few kHz wide. Quantum informationis contained in the coherence between sideband amplitude and thecarrier. Sideband modulation depths are chosen to produce an output thathas a mean photon number per pulse (μ) less than one. Carrier andsidebands are then transmitted to a receiver (Bob), where the differentwavelengths (frequencies) are injected into a single optical modulator,and short-pulse RF sideband frequency modulation is applied to eachcarrier. This modulation produces sideband amplitudes that interferewith Alice's so as to accomplish coherent encoding/decoding required forQKD. Readout is achieved by converting frequency encoded quantuminformation into spatial information using a wavelength dispersingelement such as a grating or prism in the receiver, and then using asingle-photon imager with high temporal/spatial resolution, or an arrayof single photon detectors possibly coupled through fibers aligned witha fiber collimator array.

FIG. 1 illustrates a representative system based on a transmitter 101that includes a single mode, CW laser 102. An optical beam from thelaser 102 is coupled to a modulator 104 that is configured to producefrequency sidebands based on an electrical modulation signal produced bya modulator driver 106. The single mode optical beam from the CW laser102 provides a single carrier frequency; additional carrier frequenciescan be provided by combining one or more additional single mode opticalbeams at different wavelengths. A representative sideband 210 of acarrier frequency 202 is shown in FIG. 2A. A plurality of sidebands isgenerally available, and these sidebands form a first set of statesreferred to herein as “computational states” to be used in QKD.

Modulation can be provided to produce a suitable number of sidebands,and in some examples, only positive or negative sidebands are produced.In one example, the modulator 104 is a Mach-Zehnder interferometer andthe modulator driver 106 applies electrical signals that are 90 degreesout of phase to interferometer arms. A number of available sidebandsdepends on a desired sideband separation and an available maximummodulation frequency. For example, for a 2 GHz sideband separation and a40 GHz maximum modulation frequency, as many as about 32 sidebands canbe produced. Generally, if n sidebands are available, log₂ n data bitscan be encoded in a single symbol. For n=32=2⁵ 5 bits can be encoded ineach symbol. Sideband modulation is generally configured so that anassociated mean photon number is less than one.

In the example of FIG. 1, a single carrier frequency associated with thesingle mode optical beam is modulated, but multiple optical beams atdifferent carrier frequencies can be modulated to produce sidebands withthe same or different frequency separations and combined fortransmission of additional data bits. Alternatively, beams in orthogonalstates of polarization (SOPs) can be modulated and combined fortransmission.

A receiver 111 is configured to receive the modulated optical carrierfrom the transmitter 101 via a transmission medium 108 such as anoptical fiber or the atmosphere. A modulator 113 is coupled toselectively produce sidebands that interfere with sidebands produced bythe transmitter 101, and a carrier reject filter 110 removes orattenuates the optical carrier. A grating 112 separates the sidebandsthat are then directed and focused by a reflector 114 or other opticalsystem to a detector array 116. Detector array outputs are processed bya signal processor/conditioner 117 and can then be stored as digital oranalog values in memory 118 such as RAM, or other computer readablemedia or computer readable storage device such as a hard disk. Detectionin a selected computational states or conjugate states is based on anassociated modulation applied by the modulator 113.

In one example, a compact optical system for spatial separation offrequency sidebands band is possible with sidebands about 1 GHz apartwith a spacing of at least 2 GHz between the first sideband and thecarrier to prevent carrier leakage into the sidebands. To increase theHilbert space still further, additional carriers, each with its ownphase modulator, can be used in the transmitter, but decoded by a singlephase modulator in the receiver.

The system of FIG. 1 can be used in a variety of prepare-and-measure QKDschemes. For example, members of a first set of orthogonal states canrepresent symbols that will be used to form a shared key, while membersof a conjugate set of equal amplitude superpositions of the first set isused to characterize channel disturbances arising from eavesdropping.Such a higher-dimensional QKD protocol can be realized with considerablyless experimental complexity and cost than a mutually unbiasedbases-protocol. In such a system, a transmitter such as that of FIG. 1(“Alice”) prepares approximately single-photon states randomly selectedfrom the following sets: a) “computational states” containing a photonin a single sideband, from which secret key bits are produced (see, forexample, FIG. 2A), and b) “conjugate states” containing a photon in acoherent equal amplitude superposition of all sidebands with equal RFphases, except for one sideband's phase which is flipped in sign asshown in FIG. 2C.

At the receiver 111 (“Bob”) computational and conjugate statemeasurements are made by directing the received signal onto the grating112 and detector(s) 116. For computational state measurements, Bobapplies a modulation at the selected computational state sidebandfrequency and then removes the carrier. Such a modulation is shown atFIG. 2B. Bob makes conjugate state measurements by first applying anequal amplitude modulation to all sidebands as shown in FIG. 2D. Eachset contains 2^(n) states, where n=number of bits/photon (bpp). As inthe “biased basis BB84” protocol, for security it is not necessary tohave equal fractions of signals in each of the two sets, provided theerror analysis is performed separately for each set. Therefore, themajority of signals (for example, 90%) are prepared and measured in thecomputational set requiring no modulation by Bob, and 10% are chosenfrom the conjugate state set for channel disturbance characterization.

Once the signals have been detected, Alice and Bob can use conventionalcommunications to select out two “sifted” symbol sets: a) “computationalsifted” symbols, for which both used computational states, and b)“conjugate sifted” symbols, for which both used conjugate states. Aneavesdropper (Eve) can neither obtain complete information about Alice'ssymbols nor measure them without introducing a disturbance. Forinstance, in a simple intercept/resend attack, if Eve makes a conjugatestate measurement of a computational state from Alice, Eve will havereduced probabilities of getting the symbol correct or incorrect. On theother hand if Eve makes a computational state measurement of a conjugatestate from Alice, Eve will forward a computational state to Bob leadingto a high error probability in Bob's conjugate sifted set. In a perfectsystem in each of these sifted sets, Alice's symbols would be perfectlycorrelated with Bob's. Such a scheme could be implemented with multiplewavelengths lying in a few-nm wide band, across which atmospheric orfiber transmittance (depending on the system type fiber or free-space tobe implemented) is high, dispersion is low, and single-photon detectionis possible with good efficiency (10% or more), low dark noise(<10⁻⁵/ns) and after-pulsing probability, short dead-time (<1 ns), andlow timing jitter (100 ps or less).

The probability of producing a “computational sifted” symbol per clockperiod may be estimated under the assumption of 10% transmittancethrough a laboratory-scale channel, including receiver collection andoptical losses, and a mean photon number of μ=1 at the exit of thetransmitter:

P(computational sifted)=0.9×0.9×0.1×0.1=8×10⁻³

which is the product of the probabilities that both Alice and Bob selectthe computational case, the channel transmittance, and the detectionefficiency. This number must be multiplied by the clock rate, the numberof bpp, and a privacy amplification (PA) factor to estimate a securerate. Extrapolating from BB84 experiments in low bit error rate (BER)regimes, a PA factor of 0.5, yields a baseline performance projection of1 Gbs with a transmission rate of only ˜1 GHz. This suggests that asecure rate that is within reach of a 1 Gbps target is feasible using 40GHz-bandwidth modulators in a multi-carrier design (e.g. 32 carrierseach with 32 sidebands for 1024 states or 10 bpp), provided the errorrate can be kept sufficiently small. A number of options are possiblefor further increasing the secure rate, including using cryogenicdetectors for less deadtime, timing jitter, and noise.

There are several sources of error in the computational sifted set.First, Alice's sideband modulation could have some crosstalk intoadjacent sidebands. This can be avoided by ensuring that the RF pulse issufficiently long to allow narrow sidebands, which in turn requiressufficient separation between the carrier and the first sideband. Next,dispersion from the atmosphere or fiber could in principle introducedifferent propagation delays between different sidebands leading tointer-symbol interference (ISI). However, over the amount of opticalbandwidth with 1024 sidebands spaced 1 GHz apart for a total of ˜1 THzin bandwidth, this is no more than ˜ps even on an atmospheric space toground path and is therefore negligible. In fiber, a wavelength regionaround the zero dispersion point or dispersion compensation can be used.

There are additional sources of errors in the conjugate sifted symbolset. Modulation amplitude errors between Alice and Bob of as much as 10%lead to only an about 0.5% reduction in visibility. Atmosphericdispersion produces an additional phase between different sidebands,amounting to ˜0.3 degrees at STP over a 1-m air path at STP betweensidebands separated by 32 GHz. This will be a slowly varying function ofmeteorological conditions and can be compensated with RF “phasetweakers” at Bob during an occasional tune up. De-phasing due toatmospheric dispersion across a given sideband amounts to 0.006degrees/km/MHz at sea level at STP, and so can be avoided as asignificant error source with sufficiently narrow sidebands. Again, thisrequires sufficient separation between the carrier and first sidebandrelative to the pulse length. Finally, air turbulence will introducesmall random phase fluctuations between different sidebands: at sealevel at STP a 0.1° C. fluctuation in air temperature over a 1 m segmentof path will introduce a 0.2 arcsec phase difference between sidebandsthat are 32 GHz apart. Control of these and other error sources, coupledwith secure protocol design can be provided so that bit error ratios inthe few percent range are attainable.

Noise, whether due to detector noise, background, encoding/decodingerrors or decoherence, is a greater challenge for QKD using ahigher-order alphabet than in a BB84 system: with 10 bpp, one symbolerror could introduce as many as ten bit errors. A low error rateencoding/decoding scheme for high-dimensional quantum information,capable of GHz clock rate operation, that is robust to decoherence fromatmospheric turbulence and dispersion is therefore valuable.Frequency-coded quantum information is robust to atmospheric decoherenceowing to the small amount of dispersion (˜fs/km/nm at 780 nm at STP) andthe essentially frozen turbulence on the time scales of relevance.Another critical issue for security is how to assign bit values tosymbols, and at what stage of the QKD protocol these assignments shouldbe made. Depending on the dominant error mechanism, a poor choice of bitassignment could lead to a higher BER than necessary. Further, anadversary's partial information is on the symbols, and so it might bepreferable for security to delay making the assignment of bits tosymbols until the later stages of the protocol, and even to consider avariety of choices of assignment that could be made on the fly.

The computational and conjugate states could also be produced by usingmutually unbiased bases built using the two phase settings as shown inFIGS. 2A and 2C. Alice can choose between multiple phase encodings foreach sideband while Bob selects one of a set of interfering sidebandsettings such as all 0° or 90° phase pumping of all sidebands in thereceiver side modulator.

In another alternative system illustrated in FIGS. 3A-3B, a number ofavailable sidebands in an FC-QKD system can be increased using amode-locked laser (MLL) 301 from which a few nm-wide band is selected.This band is then spatially separated into multiple CW carrierwavelengths with a grating 302 and the carrier wavelengths are directedto respective modulators 304A-304C by a reflector 306 or other opticalsystem. FIG. 4A illustrates available carrier wavelengths 402-405.Frequency-coded information is applied to one or more carriers asmultiple, short pulse, low-modulation-depth RF single sidebands with therespective modulators. Only three carriers and the associated modulatorsare shown in FIG. 3A, but fewer or more can be used. A reflector 310returns the modulated beams to a grating 314 to form an output beam fortransmission to a receiver. In other examples, one or more carriers aretransmitted without combination with other carriers, or carriers arecombined so that two or more bundled carrier beams are transmitted to areceiver in multiple output beams. FIG. 4B illustrates a representativeoutput spectrum showing the carrier 402 modulated so as to produce asideband 403. The remaining carriers are shown without modulation. Aconjugate state 410 is illustrated in FIG. 4C, and a correspondingreceiver side demodulation is shown in FIG. 4D.

Quantum information is contained in the coherence between the sidebandamplitude and the carrier. Sideband modulation depths are chosen toproduce a transmitter output that has a combined mean photon number perpulse μ<1. This level is adjusted and maintained by picking off aportion of the beam with a reflector 319 and directing this beam portionto a beam monitor detector 320. Based on detected power, the mode lockedlaser carrier power or modulator drive can be adjusted so that meanphoton number is sufficiently small.

In some examples, sidebands are generally narrow, a few MHz width, withinter-sideband spacing of about 1 GHz. The wavelength region around770-780 nm has good atmospheric transmittance with low dispersion, whilethe 1310 or 1550 nm bands can be used in fiber. An atmospheric systempreferably produces the needed states in optical fiber because highefficiencies in modulation are best achieved by fiber-coupledcomponents. Bob must collect Alice's beam into a single transverse modewith free-space to fiber coupling or in the case of a fiber system inputdirectly into Bob's modulator. Because the sidebands are all equallyspaced from each carrier, Bob can modulate all of the carriers at oncewith a single phase modulator. Alice requires a separate modulator foreach carrier, as Alice must be able to individually control the phase ofeach sideband. One or more of representative frequencies 402-405 areselected

A receiver for use with the transmitter of FIG. 3A is illustrated inFIG. 3B. A modulator 352 is situated to apply suitable modulations tothe received sideband-modulated signals and a carrier reject filter 350is configured to remove or attenuate the carrier frequency. A grating354 separates the sidebands and a reflector 356 couples the selectedsidebands to single photon detectors 358-360. For equally spacedsidebands, the modulator 352 can apply a modulation to all inputcarriers prior to dispersion by the grating 354. A data processingsystem 362 establishes bit values based on the demodulated, detectedsignals.

FIG. 4C illustrates a conjugate state 410 corresponding to sidebands ofcarrier frequency 403. One of the sidebands is out of phase with respectto the remaining sidebands. For both computation and conjugate states, amodulation depth can be selected so as to correspond to no more than onephoton.

In systems based on either mode-locked or CW lasers, frequency sidebandscan be used to encoded multiple bits with a single photon. Using suchmodulation techniques, a transmitter and receiver can communicate so asto establish a shared key. One method of establishing such a shared keyis described below, but conventional approaches such as “sifting” can beused.

Frequency-Coded QKD on Solitons

Optical solitons can also be used with multi-bit, sideband modulation asdescribed above. Optical solitons are brief (sub-nanosecond) pulses oflight which propagate through optical fiber with no dispersion; thepulse is attenuated as it travels through the fiber, but the pulseenvelope and optical phase are not distorted. A phase modulation can beimposed on solitons with modulation amplitude at a single-photon level.Fiber attenuation (typically 0.2 dB/km) can be overcome by periodicallyinserting amplification stages. Amplification inevitably degradestransmitter/receiver correlations but such degradation can becompensated using distillation as described above. Balancing of fiberloss and amplifier gain permits a propagating soliton to remain afundamental soliton throughout. Any attempt by an eavesdropper toamplify and split off a copy will result in a higher-order soliton whosephase is not faithful to the original. Such a phase modulation techniquealso allows the encoding of multiple bits of information on one solitonpulse: multiplexing several frequency components on the imposed phasepermits use of a higher-order alphabet as described above.

Optical solitons propagating in optical fiber are generally describedwith a hyperbolic secant envelope u(t,z)=sech(t)exp(iz/2), wherein z isa propagation distance, and t is time (with a mean time of flight to zremoved), and gain or loss α in the fiber small enough to be neglected.The phase term in u(t,z) has no t-dependence; and propagation iscompletely nondispersive. This secant envelope can be obtained from anonlinear Schrodinger equation:

${{- i}\frac{\partial u}{\partial z}} = {{\frac{1}{2}\frac{\partial^{2}u}{\partial t^{2}}} + {{u^{2}}u} - {\frac{i}{2}\alpha \; u}}$

The tendency for this sech-shaped pulse to travel through the fiberwithout changing its shape arises when the dispersive term exactlycancels the non-linear term. Such propagation is based on a combinationof two equal and opposite effects: anomalous dispersion in the fiber,which tends to advance higher-frequency components and retard lowerfrequencies; and self-phase modulation due to χ⁽³⁾ nonlinearity inoptical fiber, which tends to advance lower-frequency components andretard higher frequencies. Selection of fiber parameters and use of afast-pulse laser can create a stable balance between the two, so thatthe pulse propagates without dispersion. Typical values for single-modefiber at 1550 nm wavelength are pulse widths of twenty to fiftypicoseconds, comprising 10⁶ photons. As soliton power falls due toattenuation, self-phase modulation is no longer sufficient to balancedispersion, and amplification is then required. Conversely,amplification with too much gain will create too much self-phasemodulation and the soliton will break apart into constituent solitonsand dispersive radiation. Consequently, periodic amplification isrequired to keep soliton energy within these two bounds. A distancebetween amplifiers is much less than a characteristic length z_(c)associated with fiber dispersion D and pulse duration E such that z_(c)is about 0.25 τ²/D. For typical values, z_(c) is hundreds of kilometers,suggesting that amplifier stages are needed every several tens ofkilometers.

In long haul systems, a significant limitation on the achievablebit-rate is the so-called Gordon-Haus timing jitter. This jitter arisesbecause each of the many amplifiers couples background noise into thepulse, effectively shifting its central frequency slightly. Groupvelocity dispersion of the fiber then retards or advances the pulserelative to its unshifted position. Each pulse accumulates a differentsummation of retardations and advances, so the result at the receiver isan increase in timing jitter. Traditionally, this obstacle can beovercome by inserting narrow wavelength filters in the channel, to coaxthe center wavelengths of each pulse to a common value.

A transmitter (Alice) includes a soliton source and a phase modulator.Frequency-coded information is applied to each soliton pulse asmultiple, short pulse, low-modulation-depth RF single sidebands as shownin FIGS. 8A-8C. FIG. 8A illustrates a soliton and its spectrum, FIG. 8Billustrates a representative applied modulation, and FIG. 8C illustratesthe soliton as modulated. Quantum information is contained in thecoherence between the sideband amplitude and the soliton carrierfrequency. Sideband modulation depths are chosen to produce an outputthat has a low photon number per pulse. The soliton pulses withsidebands are transmitted to the receiver (Bob), where they are injectedinto a single optical modulator, and multiple, short-pulse RF sidebandfrequency modulation is applied to each carrier. Bob's modulationproduces sideband amplitudes that interfere with Alice's so as toaccomplish the coherent coding/decoding required for QKD. Readout isaccomplished by converting frequency encoded quantum information intospatial information using a grating in the receiver, and then using anarray of single-photon detectors to readout the detection states on eachclock cycle by utilizing the device's high temporal/spatial resolutions.Transmitters and receivers are generally as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3A-3B,but with a soliton source.

Sidebands of a few MHz width (or less or more) can be used, withinter-sideband spacings of 1 GHz or more or less, and a spacing betweenthe carrier and first sideband selected based on soliton pulse length.Bob's modulation produces sideband amplitudes that interfere withAlice's so as to accomplish the conjugate coding/decoding required forQC; this can be thought of as a (higher-dimensional) analog in frequencyspace of bright-reference-pulse (BRP) encoding/decoding ofspatial/temporal quantum information such as described in C. H. Bennett,Phys. Rev. Lett. 68, 3121 (1992), which is incorporated herein byreference. Alice and Bob can share a common RF reference and clock, andconventional communications required in the QKD protocol can beaccomplished electrically.

The disclosed methods and apparatus can be used with a variety ofprepare-and-measure QKD schemes. For example, a 3-state protocol can beused in which members of one set of orthogonal states represent symbolsused to form a shared key, while members of a conjugate set of equalamplitude superpositions of the first set is used to characterize thechannel disturbance arising from eavesdropping. Such ahigher-dimensional QKD protocol can be considerably less complex than amutually unbiased bases-protocol. Therefore, in some examples, Alicetransmits in approximate single-photon states randomly selected from thefollowing sets: computational states containing a photon in a singlesideband, from which secret key bits are produced, and conjugate statescontaining a photon in a coherent equal amplitude superposition of allsidebands with equal RF phases, except for one sideband's phase which isflipped in sign. Bob makes computational state measurements by directinghis received signal onto his grating and detector array. He makesconjugate state measurements by first applying an equal amplitudemodulation to all sidebands. Each set contains 2N states, where N=numberof bits per photon (bpp). Further, as in the biased basis BB84 protocol,for security it is not necessary to have equal fractions of signals ineach of the two sets, provided the error analysis is performedseparately for each set. Therefore, the majority of the signals (forexample, 90%) are prepared and measured in the computational set(requiring no modulation by Bob), and only 10% are chosen from theconjugate state set, for channel disturbance characterization.

Once the signals have been detected, Alice and Bob use conventionalcommunications to select out two sifted symbol sets: computationalsifted symbols, for which both used computational states, and conjugatesifted symbols, for which both used conjugate states. An eavesdropper(Eve) can neither obtain complete information about Alice's symbols normeasure them without introducing a disturbance. For instance, in asimple intercept/resend attack, if Eve makes a conjugate statemeasurement of a computational state from Alice, Eve will have equalprobabilities of getting the symbol correct or incorrect. On the otherhand if Eve makes a computational state measurement of a conjugate statefrom Alice, Eve will send on a computational state to Bob leading to ahigh error probability in Bob's conjugate sifted set.

Such approaches also permit wavelength-division-multiplexing of opticalsignals in the fiber. Solitons can be generated and modulated at severaldifferent wavelengths, combined before launch, and then demultiplexedand individually analyzed at the receiver.

Soliton-soliton interactions can be used in possible eavesdroppingattacks. If a soliton of shorter wavelength is launched into the fiberbehind a soliton of longer wavelength, the shorter one will eventuallyovertake the longer one due to anomalous dispersion of the fiber. As thesolitons pass, they interact in ways that can transmit information fromone to the other. For example, the field of one soliton will change thelocal index of refraction (due to fiber nonlinearity); the secondsoliton accumulates a phase shift as it passes through the area ofchanged index. In this way, the phase of the probe soliton containsinformation about the intensity of the signal soliton, without havingaffected the signal intensity at all. This effect is known ascross-phase modulation, and is the foundation for several quantumnon-demolition (QND) methods. At first glance it might appear that theability to perform an arbitrarily accurate measurement of a soliton'sphase makes them wholly unsuitable for secure communication. However, asoliton's intensity and phase are conjugate variables; any measurementwhich yields information about one necessarily perturbs the other. Inthe experiments cited above, QND measurements of the photon number doyield complete information without affecting the number at all—but thesignal soliton's phase is completely randomized. Eavesdroppermeasurements would have measurable impact on the photon number, and inthis way the eavesdropper's presence would be revealed.

Transmission distance can be extended by increasing modulation amplitudebeyond a single photon per pulse. Consider the case of an adversary whodoes not possess a quantum memory. Alice can transmit almost threephotons in each pulse without loss of secrecy. This is because aneavesdropper performing an intercept-resend attack cannot reliablymeasure the quantum state of less than three photons, and aphoton-number-splitting attack can be foiled by use of a decoy-stateprotocol. Conversely, an adversary with a perfect quantum memory couldsuccessfully attack a multiple-photon protocol by tapping off andstoring in memory one photon from each pulse. After Alice and Bobannounce their basis choices, the adversary could take photons frommemory and measure them in the correct basis with perfect accuracy.Thus, there exists a trade-off between the size/fidelity ofeavesdropper's quantum memory, and the maximum amplitude Alice maytransmit. Recent research has shown that this bounded/noisy quantumstorage model enables some cryptographic functions which are known to beimpossible in the case of an unbounded adversary.

Bit Distillation

QKD protocols typically involve the transmission by Alice of a series ofrandom bits encoded using a computational and a conjugate basis. Acommon encoding system is based on rectilinear and diagonal states ofpolarization (SOPs) that typically encode one bit per photon. Afterquantum bit transmission in QKD, at least some received bits (typicallyat least about 25%) are detected incorrectly, and a conventionalcommunication channel can be used to improve accuracy without becomingmore susceptible to eavesdroppers. A representative system for improvingbit accuracy by processing bits as pairs (i.e., n=2 bits at a time) isillustrated below, but arbitrary length bit strings can be similarlyprocessed. Detected bit values can be obtained based on single ormulti-bit alphabets, and the following distillation procedure can beused with bit values established in any basis.

Referring to FIG. 5, at 502 Alice transmits a series of bits to Bob, andBob selects a state (computational or conjugate) for measurement of eachof the transmitted bits. For balanced basis SOP encoding, Bob is correctin basis state selection 50% of the time. Alice thus transmits a bitsequence a4a3a2a1a0 which Bob detects as bits b4b3b2b1b0, some of whichdo not correspond to the transmitted bits. Bit accuracy can be improveby distillation as follows using a conventional communication channel.At 504, Alice generates a random bit R_(A) for each pair of bits andtransmits [a_(2i+1),a_(2i)] XOR [R_(A), R_(A)] for each bit pair[a_(2i+1),a_(2i)] at 506. At 508, Bob then XORs corresponding received(i.e., detected) bit pairs [b_(2i+1), b_(2i)] with [a_(2i+1),a_(2i)] XOR[R_(A), R_(A)] transmitted by Alice. Bob accepts bit pairs at 510 onlyif the result is [0,0] or [1,1] as determined at 509. Bob transmits amessage at 512 to Alice indicating which bit pairs are accepted. Alicethen records the accepted bits at 514. Bob does not transmit actual bitvalues to Alice.

In other encodings, Bob can be correct or incorrect in basis stateselection more or less frequently than in a two state, balanced basisencoding. In a 3 state protocol in which most bits (for example, 90%)are encoded in a computational state set requiring no modulation, and10% are encoded in a conjugate state set, Bob would likely be correctmore often than 50% (up to 90%). In a 4 state protocol, Bob could obtaina correct bit value half the time even when measurement is made in thewrong basis.

Processing of an example bit string is shown in FIG. 6. At 602, Alicetransmits raw data via a quantum channel such as described above usingsuitable bases. Bob selects a basis state for detecting each bit, andrecords a detected value at 604. For convenient illustration, bit valuesassociated with errors are shown in underline and boldface in FIG. 6. At606, Alice selects a set of random bits and at 608, Alice transmits anXOR of each raw bit pair with a corresponding random number based bitpair via a conventional communication channel. At 610, Bob processesreceived bit pairs based on the XOR values from Alice and notifies Alicewhich bit pairs to accept, without sending bit values. At 612, 614, Boband Alice identify accepted bit pairs.

Representative QKD System

Referring to FIG. 7, a transmitter 702 and a receiver 712 are coupledvia a quantum communication channel. Data from the transmitter 702 ismodulated for transmission by a multi-bit modulator that encodes valuesfor multiple bits on a single photon. The receiver 712 includes amulti-bit demodulator 714 that estimates bit values by demodulating areceived multi-bit modulated carrier signal. Bits for transmission anddetected bits can be stored in respective memories 706, 716. Thetransmitter 702 also includes a bit distillation processor 708 that isconfigured to, for example, generate random numbers, bit strings basedon random numbers, as well as to execute logical operations such as XORsfor bit distillation. The bit distillation processor 708 is coupled to areceiver side bit distillation processor 718 via a conventionalcommunication channel. The bit distillation processor 718 performslogical operations and reports bit strings or bits that are to beaccepted to the transmitter 702 via the conventional communicationchannel.

In view of the many possible embodiments to which the principles of thedisclosed invention may be applied, it should be recognized that theillustrated embodiments are only preferred examples of the invention andshould not be taken as limiting the scope of the invention. Rather, thescope of the invention is defined by the following claims. We thereforeclaim as our invention all that comes within the scope and spirit ofthese claims.

1. A method of quantum key distribution, comprising: encoding multiplekey bits in a computational basis or a conjugate basis defined by aplurality of side band frequencies modulated onto an optical carrier;and transmitting the modulated optical carrier.
 2. The method of claim1, wherein multiple key bit values are encoded on the optical carrierbased on a plurality of sideband frequencies.
 3. The method of claim 1,further comprising transmitting the modulated optical carrier to areceiver via free space transmission or an optical fiber.
 4. The methodof claim 3, wherein log₂ n bits are encoded based on n sidebandfrequencies.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the optical carrier is asingle mode, continuous wave laser beam.
 6. The method of claim 4,wherein the optical carrier is a mode-locked laser beam or a series ofsolitons.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising modulating theoptical carrier so that the modulation corresponds to at most one photonat a carrier frequency.
 8. The method of claim 3, further comprising:selecting a basis state and processing the modulated optical carrierbased on the selected basis state; and assigning a received bit valuebased on the processing.
 9. The method of claim 3, further comprisingselecting a basis state and processing the modulated optical carrierbased on the selected basis state; and assigning a plurality of receivedbit values based on the processing
 10. An apparatus, comprising: anoptical source that produces an optical carrier beam; an opticalmodulator situated to receive the optical carrier beam and encode atleast one key bit on the optical carrier beam based on at least onefrequency sideband.
 11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the opticalmodulator encodes the at least one bit based on a set of computationalstates and a set of conjugate states, wherein the computational statescorrespond to frequency sidebands and the conjugate states areassociated with combinations of the computational states.
 12. Theapparatus of claim 11, wherein the optical modulator provides amodulation based on a conjugate state by inverting a phase of a sidebandmodulation.
 13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the optical carrierbeam is a CW laser beam or a mode-locked laser beam.
 14. The apparatusof claim 13, further comprising a beam monitor that determines that atotal encoding modulation corresponds to at most to a selected number ofphotons.
 15. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising demodulatingthe modulated optical beam based on a selected computational state orconjugate state.
 16. The apparatus of claim 15, further comprising aprocessor that identifies at least some incorrectly detected bits byreceiving an XOR of transmitted bit strings with a string based on arandom number, and computing an XOR of the received XORs with thedetected string.
 17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the processortransmits an indication of accepted bit strings based on the computedXORs.
 18. A method, comprising: establishing values for a plurality ofdetected bits corresponding to transmitted bit values, wherein thevalues are established based on a quantum communication and a selectedbasis state from a plurality of basis states for the quantumcommunication; receiving bit strings based on processing the transmittedbit values with bit strings based on a random number, wherein thereceived bit strings are communicated in a non-quantum communicationchannel; and indicating accepted bit strings by processing the receivedbit strings with corresponding bit strings based on the establishedvalues of the detected bits.
 19. The method of claim 18, wherein thereceived bit strings correspond to XORs of the transmitted bit stringswith a bit string defined by a random number.
 20. The method of claim19, wherein the received bit strings are processed by XORing thereceived bit string and a corresponding detected bit string.
 21. Acommunication system, comprising: a soliton source that produces anoptical soliton; and a modulator that: modulates the optical solitonbased on at least one quantum key bit to produce a soliton sideband, andcauses the optical soliton and the soliton sideband to co-propagate in atransmission medium.
 22. The communication system of claim 21, whereinthe transmission medium includes at least a first optical fiber and asecond optical fiber, wherein the first optical fiber and the secondoptical fiber have different dispersions.
 23. The communication systemof claim 33, wherein the second optical fiber is a dispersioncompensating fiber.
 24. The communication system of claim 23, wherein alength of the first optical fiber is different than a length of thesecond optical fiber.
 25. The communication system of claim 24, whereindispersion of the second optical fiber is between about −49 and −30ps/nm/km.
 26. The communication system of claim 21, further comprising areceiver that receives the soliton sideband from the transmissionmedium.
 27. A method, comprising: modulating a soliton based on at leastone quantum key bit to encode the at least one quantum key bit on asoliton sideband; and transmitting the soliton sideband such that thesoliton sideband and the soliton co-propagate in a transmission medium.28. The method of claim 27, wherein the transmission medium comprises afirst optical fiber and a second optical fiber, and wherein the firstoptical fiber and second optical fiber have different dispersions. 29.The method of claim 28, wherein the wherein the first optical fiber andsecond optical fiber have different fiber lengths.
 30. The method ofclaim 29, wherein the transmitting comprises transmitting the solitonsideband so that the soliton and the soliton sideband co-propagate inthe transmission medium between a transmitter and a receiver thatreceives the soliton sideband from the transmission medium.
 31. Themethod of claim 28, wherein the transmitting comprises transmitting thesoliton sideband so that the soliton and the soliton sidebandco-propagate in the transmission medium between a transmitter and areceiver that receives the soliton sideband from the transmissionmedium.
 32. The method of claim 27, wherein the transmitting comprisestransmitting the soliton sideband so that the soliton and the solitonsideband co-propagate in the transmission medium between a transmitterand a receiver that receives the soliton sideband from the transmissionmedium.
 33. The communication system of claim 22, wherein the dispersionof the first optical fiber is opposite in sign to the dispersion of thesecond optical fiber.
 34. The communication system of claim 21, whereinthe modulator causes the optical soliton and the soliton sideband toco-propagate in the transmission medium between the modulator and areceiver that receives the soliton sideband from the transmissionmedium.
 35. The communication system of claim 22, wherein the modulatorcauses the optical soliton and the soliton sideband to co-propagate inthe transmission medium between the modulator and a receiver thatreceives the soliton sideband from the transmission medium.
 36. Thecommunication system of claim 24, wherein the modulator causes theoptical soliton and the soliton sideband to co-propagate in thetransmission medium between the modulator and a receiver that receivesthe soliton sideband from the transmission medium.